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ADDRESS OF THE 

REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTION. 






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HELD AT LITTLE ROCK. SEPT. 15, IM+. 



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To the President and Members of the Republican StaU Convt nt 

Your committee, to whom was referred the preparation 
address to the republicans of Arkansas, beg leave to submit the 
following as the result of its labors, and recommend its adoption : 

To the end that our action may be fully understood, we deem 
it but proper to state the causes which have impelled us to adopt the 
policy now marked out for the republican party of this State, and 
give to the public the reasons that have influenced us to our 
present course, 

:ONSTITUTION CANNOT BE CHANGED IN ANY OTHER MANNER THAN 
ASSENTED TO WHEN IT WAS ADOPTED. 

The land and water within certain geographical limits do not 
constitute a State; but the territory over which the State exercises 
;urisdiction. Nor do the aggregate inhabitants within such limits 
constitute a State. A political State — and the States of the Union 
are all of this character — is a body politic qualified to subsist by 
perpetual succession and from generation to generation. It is an 
organization where the innumerable will speaks as a unit by its 
legally authorized officers and representatives. It is an organiza- 
tion where, in consideration of the surrender of certain natural 
rights belonging to man, the corporate body, called the State, 
undertakes the protection of the life, liberty and property of every 
person within its jurisdiction. To the State thus organized the 
first duty of every person is allegiance — it begins with life and 
only ends with death. Without the unity which a corporate 
organization gives, there is no such thing as sovereign will. The 
sovereign will, in all corporate bodies, must be a unit — a legal 
entity — and the moment the sovereign will ceases to be the legal 
will of the body politic, that moment the sovereignty of the State 
is at an end, and in its stead you have the personal will of an 
unorganized mass. You no longer have an existing State govern- 
ment, nor the semblance of one. The moment the corporate peo- 
ple cease to exist as such, everything is resolved into its natural 
elements, and you have territory and people, but no government. 
Under a corporate existence, the people, in a legal sense, have no 



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right, of themselves, to change the fori ; >vernment in any 

other manner than that assented to at the time of its organization. 
In their corporate character, the people ran change their organi 
law, in such parts as to them may seem meet, so long as they do 
nothing inconsistent with the constitution of the United States, 
and so long as Ehe themselves observe the mode agreed upon 
when the}' organized themselves into a body politic. If this mode 
be strictly adhered to, the political State and its legal entity art- 
preserved: but the moment a change is made by a departure from 
the corporate powers, or in a manner unknown to the organic act. 
you h troyed tie- corporate existence of a State, and cut out 

the line of succession. The will of the corporate body is no longei 
heard, [ts sovereignty no longer exists, and instead, or one voice 
speaking for the whole, the voice of the Stat'; is distributed — not 
to the departments of government, hut to an unorganized mob, 
who have withdrawn their allegiance from the State. Such action 
is nothing move nor less than revolution, and before entering upon 
it, it.- consequences should be weighed against the evils which it is 
proposed to remedy. There are hut two methods by which a 
written constitution can be changed; one is the method a 
upon at lie- time of its adoption, the other is revolution. The 
general assembly is clothed with power to propose amendments to 
the constitution, and if the people ratify the proposed amend- 
ments, thej become a part of the organic act. [nstead of pursu- 
ing this method, the general assembly ha- attempted to create a 
body foreign and unknown in our form of government, and clothe 
it with power, not to amend the constitution, but to create a new 
t. founded on the allegiance of the same persons that ow< 
allegiance to the government formed by the constitution of 1868. 
No one of 'die revolutionist.-, or friends of the new constitution 
movement, pretend to he the successors of the government organ- 
ized in L868; they base their right on the power of the people to 
make and unmake their government at will, regardless "I' all con- 
stitutional inhibition. They claim to possess the right to with- 
draw their allegiance from one form of government and transfer it 
to another, of their own creation, at pleasure. They claim that 
they are not hound to show any Jim of succession, and thai the 
3S the inherent power to mal iments. Whether 

a State of the Union can he wrenched from in- orbit, and another 
form of government created to exercise jurisdiction over the same 
territory, without the consent or ass< nt of congress, and in a man- 
ner unknown bo fundamental law, is a question that the coe 

United Stat,'- is called upon for the first time to determine. 
- 13 thai a state government is not an ephemeral thing; that a 
State government once formed continues and is binding on the 
people for all time, unless changed as therein prescribed, and that 
the causes which would justify revolution ar< the on] 3 that 

would absolve the people from a departure from die strict letter oi 
the constitution. This idea of legitimacy and succession cannot 
be lost sight of, nor can the precedents he (1. 'parted from. It was 
not out of compassion to an exiled Bourbon, that Europe con- 
sumed one whole generation in blood and carnage. The struggle 



was. not to place a Bourbon on the throne because he was a 

Bourbon, but to sustain their ideas of legitimacy, and the line oi 

_ succession; and. in the struggle now being made, every State in 

N the Union will be affected by the precedent set in the Arkansas 

. case. If Arkansas can change its form of government and its 

"constitution, in a manner unknown to, and at variance therewith, 

the people of every other State of the Union may do the same 

thing every time they become dissatisfied with their officers; 01 

whenever one set of partisans, by a reign of terror and violence, 

an disturb the public mind to such an extent as to induce it to 

put another faction in power, by transferring their allegiance to 

another government. 

The question presented to congress by the Arkansas case is one 
of great importance, involving, among other things, as it does, a 
settlement of the question whether the constitution of a State can 
be altered, changed or amended by the legislature, or the people, in 
an}' other manner than that prescribed by the organic act. The 
constitution of this state provides for its own amendment, and we 
insist, inasmuch as the people themselves have pointed out the 
manner of changing the organic law, that the mode pointed out 
must be followed, to the exclusion of all others. In other words, 
the enumeration and pointing out liow a change in the constitution 
may be effected, excludes the idea that it may be done in any 
other manner, or in any mode not pointed out by the constitution 
itself. The legislative power of the state is vested in the general 
assembly, but it is lodged there, not for the creation of neir gov- 
ernments, but for the enactment of laws, and with certain limita- 
tions and restrictions, among which are, that it shall not be so ex- 
ercised as to conflict with the constitution itself, or in such manner 
as may result in the destruction of the instrument from which it 
derives its sole power to legislate. To deny the correctness of this 
proposition is to say that the creature is clothed with power to 
destroy its creator. Therefore, we say that the constitution having 
pointed out how the legislature and the people might change the 
same, that mode must be followed, and that the pointing out a 
specific mode for the legislature and the people -to pursue in chang- 
ing the organic act is an inhibition upon that department of 
government, and the people themselves, to pursue or propose any 
other. 

LEGISLATURE CAN ONLY BE CONVENED IN EXTRAORDINARY SESSION BY 

THE 'iOVERNOR. 

But this is not our only objection. The legislature of the 
State can only be convened, in extraordinary session, by the gov- 
ernor. At the time Elisha Baxter attempted to convene the legis- 
lature, it had been adjudicated by the circuit court of Pulaski 
county that he was not the governor of the State of Arkansas, and 
a judgment of ouster entered, which was fully executed against 
him. It is claimed, on the other hand, that the court rendering 
the judgment had no jurisdiction of the subject matter of the suit, 
and for this reason the judgment is a nullity. Whether the courts 
of the countrv should be resorted to, in a republican form of gov- 
ernment, to determine questions of this kind, or whether a litigant 



should be allowed to determine the question for himself, need not 
be discussed here. It will be a sufficient answer to the argument 
to say that the circuit court of this State is a court of general and 
original jurisdiction. If a party litigant pleads to the jurisdiction 
of a court and his plea is overruled, and lie desires to settle the 
question of jurisdiction before judgment, he should apply to a supe- 
rior court for a writ of prohibition. If he waives this right and. 
judgment goes against him, the only manner known to the law to 
avoid the force and effect of the judgment is by appeal and super- 
sedeas. Elisha Baxter neglected to apply for a writ of prohibition, 
and when a judgment of ouster was rendered against him, he neg- 
lected and refused to appeal, or take any steps to supersede the 
judgment ; but on the contrary, after the judgment was executed, 
by the installation of Brooks, he assumed the right to himself 
to decide that the court was without jurisdiction ir 
his case, and bid defiance to the lawful authority of the State 
In the suit in the circuit court Elisha Baxter was not sued in a 
representative capacity, but as a private citizen. As a citizen, he 
was charged with having usurped an office that the majority of 
the legal electors of the State had granted to another. By demurrer 
he admitted the fact, and by force of arms he has thus far suc- 
cessfully resisted the lawful authority of the State. , Afterward this 
judgment of the circuit court was introduced, in evidence, in a 
cause pending in the supreme court, to support an averment that- 
Joseph Brooks was governor of the State of Arkansas, and for the 
reasons here stated it was held to be a valid and binding judg- 
ment, the same having been executed. In view of these facts and 
adjudications, we contend that Elisha Baxter had no power or au- 
thority to convene the legislature in extraordinary session, and that 
unless convened by proper authority it had no power to pass a bill 
providing for a constitutional convention, or upon any other sub- 
ject. 

THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION WAS NOT PROVIDED FOR 
BY THE LEGAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF ARKANSAS, BUT BY A 
BODY OF USURPERS. 

We further contend that the body of men who convened at 
the call of Elisha Baxter, and pretended to act as a legislature, 
was, in fact, an illegal and unlawful assemblage, and had no power 
to legislate for the people of Arkansas, even if called together by 
proper authority. The law authorizing the governor of this State 
to issue writs of election, to fill vacancies happening in the general 
assembly, only authorizes him to order elections in cases where a 
vacancy occurs by death or resignation. Yet, in the face of the law. 
Elisha Baxter, on his own motion, ordered elections to be held for 
members of the general assembly in twenty-one districts, when the 
term of office of the members from these districts had not expired 
nor had they died or resigned. The constitution of this State pro- 
vides that a "removal from the district" shall be deemed a vaca- 
tion of office of a mem her of the general assembly ; and anothei 
clause provides that "no person holding any office under the 
United State-, or this State, or any county office, excepting post- 
master, notary public, officers of the militia and township officers, 



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shall be eligible to or hold seats in the general assembly." These 
are things which go to the disguaMfication of the member. The 
constitution says "each house (not the governor) shall be the 
judges of the disqualification, election and return of its own mem- 
bers." There was a legal quorum of the general assembly in exist- 
ence at the time Elisha Baxter issued his proclamation convening 
the same, without counting those he claim? vacated their offices 
by accepting appointments that rendered them ineligible as mem- 
bers of the legislature. To this quorum of each house, and not to 
Elisha Baxter, belongs the exclusive power of determining whether 
a member has "removed from his district," or whether he has 
accepted an office incompatible with that of a member of the gen- 
eral assembly. By assuming and arrogating to himself the powers 
belonging to the different branches of the legislature, 'under mar- 
tial law and by force of bayonets, he organized a pretended house 
of representatives, at an unusual place, and other than the capitol. 
by putting thirty-three persons therein to fill vacancies that had 
never been declared to exist, save by himself, and that did not 
occur from "death or resignation." These thirty -three persons, at 
all times during the pretended session of the legislature. 
up to the passage of the act providing for a constitutional 
convention, constituted a majority of the house of repre- 
sentatives, and the minority, had they been so disposed, and they 
were not, being friendly to Baxter's revolution, were powerless to 
eject the intruders. By the same disregard of law, and bayonet 
rule, he placed six persons in the senate to fill vacancies that had 
never been declared, save by himself, and that did not occur by 
" death or resignation." The pretended legislature that jDrovided 
for calling the present constitutional convention, instead of having 
fourteen legal members in the senate at the time of the passage of 
the constitutional convention act, only had eight, and instead of 
having forty-two in the house of representatives, only had nine 
that were entitled to seats. Called together, as that legislature was. 
by a declared usurper; organized, as it was, within the military 
lines of Elisha Baxter, and at a place other than the capitol, and 
composed, as it was, of thirty-three persons in the house of repre- 
sentatives and six in the senate, who were not entitled to seats, we 
do not, and cannot, recognize its authority to legislate for the loyal 
people of the State of Arkansas. 

WHY WE CANNOT PARTICIPATE IN THE ELECTION. 

" Why not participate in the election and vote the constitution 
down if it is obnoxious?" is a question asked by our opponents. 
We have already stated that the convention was illegally called, 
and that the present constitution cannot be altered, changed or 
amended in any other manner than that pointed out by the consti- 
tution itself. We cannot participate in the election without aban- 
doning these propositions. We cannot participate in the election 
without admitting the legality of every act of Elisha Baxter's 
administration — from the time a judgment of ouster was entered 
against him — nor can Ave participate in the election without assent- 
ing to the doctrine that the constitution may be altered, changed 
or amended in another manner than that prescribed by the organic 



act. If a constitutional convention could be legally called we 
could afford to enter the contest, Our opponents ask us to waive 
:ill questions of legality and enter a contest where he who enters 
then- leaves hopes behind. 

PAVING THE WAY TO THE COMMISSION OF FRAUD SUFFICIENT TO HAVE 
THE CONSTITUTION DECLARED RATIFIED. 

Fearing that the constitution might 1><' voted down, and 
to make assurance doubly sure, the constitutional conven- 
tion, with the co-operation of Elisha Baxter, have suspended 
the registration law, and set its safeguards aside, for no 
other reason than to allow the commission of frauds sufficient to 
insure a declaration of its adoption. With the registration law in 
force, the number of legal voters in each precinct could be easily 
ascertained; but with no registration in the State, everything is left 
in doubt as to the number of legal voter- in each township, and the 
judges of election, who, no doubt, will l» chosen with a nor to their 
fitness for the work, are at Liberty to, and no doubt will, make such 
returns as will show the constitution to be ratified, no matter how 
many votes may be east against it. Not content with suspending 
the registration act, the constitutional convention, in violation oi 
the constitution itself, passed an ordinance invading the secresy of 
the ballot-box, so that the judges of election can tell how every 
man votes. By thus violating the constitution, the judges of elec- 
tions have a list of the names of the men who voted against the 
constitution, which, no doubt, will be furnished the order of 
White Leagues throughout the State, as persons upon whom sum- 
mary punishment should be inflicted. If this were all, our caus< 
of complaint would not be as great as it is. Instead of allowing 
the returns of the election to be sent to the capitol to the usual 
officers, the constitutional convention has created a hoard of its 
own. that is not responsible under the election laws of the State 
nor to any tribunal, for the manner in which its members discharge 
their duty. This hoard is clothed with the power to declare the 
constitution ratified, and its action is final and absolute. It is 
clothed with power to declare who were elected State officers, and 
from its decision there is no appeal. No tribunal has been created 
before which frauds, no matter how enormous their character, can 
be inquired into or reviewed. No tribunal exists before which the 
vote on the adoption of the constitution can be tested or contro- 
verted; nor is there a tribunal before which we can contest the 
"lection of any one of the State officers, until after they have been 
installed into office. While we might be abb' to show the defeat oi 
the constitution by a vote of twenty thousand, and that thirty 
thousand illegal and fraudulent votes were placed in the ballot-box 
and included in the returns placed before this board, it would say 
"we are not authorized to hear a contest or correel th< returns; 
our sole duty is to declare the result from the returns." Th< 
standing of the member.- of tile hoard is no guaranty ^( a fail 
"lection or a fair count, for they arc not clothed with powertogivi 
t. were they so disposed, and the fact that after repeated efforts oi 
the part of our friends in the constitutional convention to get a 
republican on the election board of each county, and on the Stat< 



board, they were denied representation, has a tendency to arouse 
the suspicion that the proposed constitution is to be adopted at all 
hazards. The State hoard declares who were elected members of 
the general assembly, and while we might attempt to mak< a con- 
test before that body over the election of State officers, we have no 
power to make it entertain the same, and to enter upon such a con- 
test would be a recognition and admission of the fact that the 
constitution was brought about by proper authority and legally 
adopted. 

The men who inaugurated rebellion in this State, and thus far 
have had th< conduct of it. knowing as they do the consequences 
of a failure, will not be particular as to the means used to secure 
its adoption. On its adoption depends their restoration to power. 
Its defeat is their political death-knell, and to many of them a 
notice to quit. The people &i Texas, by participation in what the 
courts afterward declared was an illegal election, were held to be 
estopped from setting up the illegality, and it becomes us, with the 
light of their exp iei before us, to refrain from any act that 
would embarrass ourselves or the ease now before the congress of 
the United States. 

HAS THE NORTH CHANGED ITS MIND IN RELATION TO ITNREPENTANT 

REBELS? 

We feel every confidence that congress will at' an early day 
take up the Arkansas case and reinstate its lawful authority, and 
we hope no man professing to be a republican, or who desires to 
perpetuate the existence of the party in this state, will do any- 
thing to embarass the action of our "friends in congress. We re- 
gard our triumph as certain, if the policy laid down in this address 
be strictly adhered to. That there has been some apathy and 
indifference of late, on the part of the republican members of 
congress in relation to southern affairs, cannot be denied; but 
that apathy and indifference has arisen from a misrepresentation 
of fact, which is fast being corrected. This apathy and indiffer- 
ence, by our opponents, has been taken as an evidence that the 
northern mind has at least been brought to recognize the fact that 
there can be no peace in the lately reconstructed States until the 
State governments thereof have been remitted to the control of 
those that led them into rebellion. Such, however, is not the fact. 
The north has not changed its mind toward the men who clothed 
it in mourning and increased the national debt three and one-half 
billions of dollars. It begins to see, with clearness, that the 
leaders of the late rebellion regret nothing but their defeat, it 
begins to see that the struggle of the leaders is to overthrow the 
governments instituted in the south by the reconstruction acts of 
congress; not so much because the government itself is obnoxious 
as to get rid of the work of a republican congress. While gazing 
placidly upon the fact that the armed power y)\' the confederacy is 
concealed from sight, it has not failed to discover that the memory 
of the " lost cause " and its purposes still survive, and are en- 
shrined in the hearts of most of its followers, who are struggling to 
make their past disloyalty and treason res Not only 

this: in Kentucky, Tennsseee. Georgia and Virginia, wh re the 



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leaders no longer conceal their feelings or policy, it observes a dis- 
position to ignore and disregard the rights of a class of elector.-, 
the protection of which the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth 
amendments to the constitution of'the United States were adopted 
to preserve and protect. It begins to see that a profession of loy- 
alty was assumed for a purpose, and what that purpose is. The 
late elections in North Caroline! and Tennessee were followed by 
riots, growing out of the fact that the colored man was denied the 
rights guarantied him by the constitution of the United States ; 
and upon the heels of these disorders, the telegraph announces the 
fact that armed white forces, without authority of law or color of 
authority, and citizens of other States, invaded South Carolina 
and Mississippi for the purpose of inflicting summary chastise- 
ment upon colored men. The object of these expeditions, and the 
spirit that animated them, as well as that which induced citizens 
of Texas to send two pieces of artillery to Arkansas to aid Elisha 
Baxter to overthrow the lawful authority of the State, and resist 
the courts of the State, are known to the northern mind, and at 
the proper time it will express itself. So apparent have the 
designs of the leaders of the rebellion become that the attorney- 
general of the United States has called the attention of the presi- 
dent and his cabinet to the matter, and in the meantime has 
instructed his» prosecuting-attorneys and marshals to be vigilant in 
arresting and prosecuting such persons as may in any manner 
have attempted to prevent an exercise of the right of suffrage or 
violated any of the acts passed to enforce the thirteenth, four- 
teenth, and fifteenth amendments to the constitution. 

THE POWERS OF CQNGEESS OVEB THE QUESTION. 

Tin- question presented to congress is not, as some supp 
mere contest between Brooks and Baxter, but it is one involving a 
settlement of the question whether or not a State government can 
be administered by adjudicated usurpers, and its form changed in 
a manner unknown to the organic act, to defeat the administration 
of tin; same by its legally-elected officers. Section four of article 
four of the constitution of the United States declares that "the 
United States shall guaranty to every State in this union a repub- 
lican form of government," and the eigth section of article one 
clothes congress with the power " to make all laws which shall be 
necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested 
by the constitution in the government of the United States." We 
contend there is no such thing as "a republican form of govern- 
ment' 1 where force and effect is not given to the voice of the ma- 
jority of the legal electors. Under the clauses of the constitution 
quoted, congress is clothed with authority to determine whether a 
republican form of government exists in any one of the states of 
this union, and if it does, to guaranty its enjoyment to the people 
of the State. This is what we demand. By the clauses quoted, 
congress is clothed with power to determine whether a republics 
form of government has ceased to exist, and if so, from what 
cause, and if it has, to provide by law for the establishment of a 
government that is republican in form, or for the reinstatement of 
the lawful government. If, in the examination of the question, 






congress should find that a republican form of government had 
ceased to exist, because the persons representing the sovereignty 
of the State and administering the powers of government were 
not chosen in accordance with the constitution and laws of the 
State ; and that the power thus obtained had been used to destroy 
the existing form of government, and, by revolution, usurpation 
and violence, in its stead, create another, we contend that congress 
has both the right and power to direct that the State government 
be surrendered to the persons chosen by the people to exercise 
those powers, and command the revolutionists to disperse. We 
are aware that it is, and will be contended, that if a majority of 
the legal electors are deprived of their choice in the selection of a 
chief executive officer of the State, that the legislature is clothed 
with the power to correct the wrong complained of, and install the 
legally-elected officer. We do not deny this conference of power, 
but ask. What is the remedy when the legislature refuses to deter- 
mine the question, as is the tact in this case? The advocates and 
friends of Elisha Baxter say this is the end of the matter, and 
that there is no power, either within or outside of the State, to 
give force and effect to the voice of a majority of the legal elector- 
of the State, if the legislature shall refuse to discharge a duty 
imposed upon it by the constituti6n. Here is where we differ. 
We contend that under the " guarantee " clause of the constitution 
of the United States, congress has not only the power, but that it 
is its imperative duty, when the State authority has refused to 
act, to see that the voice of the majority of the legal electors is 
respected and obeyed. Can it be truthfully said that there is a 
republican form of government in a state where the officers repre- 
senting the sovereignty and charged with the execution o the law. 
hold their positions in direct opposition to the will of the people 
as expressed at the ballot-box, and in defiance to the judgments of 
the courts of the State, or where, by conspiracy, or for any other 
reason, the legislature refuses to allow the question to be deter- 
mined? We think not. The power of congress under the fourth 
section of article four of the constitution of the United States was 
fully examined and discussed during the pendency of the recon- 
struction acts, and State governments having greater sanction than 
the one proposed to be established by the proposed new constitu- 
tion were declared invalid and set aside, for the sole reason that 
their legitimacy could not be shown. In some instances they could 
trace their title back to a proposition of the president of the 
United States ; in others they claimed from the people, but in no 
instance did they pretend to be the successors of a State of the 
union. The advocates of a new constitution will be compelled to 
show that they are the lineal descendants of and successors to the 
government established in Arkansas in 1868, and that they came 
into possession of the same through and in the manner prescribed by 
lair. This they cannot do. 

WILL CONGRESS ALLOW THE MEN HEREIN DESCRIBED TO OVERTHROW 
A LOYAL STATE GOVERNMENT, AND IN ITS PLACE ERECT ONE TO 
BE ADMINISTERED BY DISLOYAL MEN? 

Attempts, no dobut, will be made to create the impression 



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that congress is powerless to interfere: in fact the boast of our 

opponents is, that by the time congress convenes, they will have a 
constitution and government that is "republican in form," and if 
congress should rind that Mr. Brooks was elected governor in 1872 
for the term of four years, and thai he was entitled to the office, 
it would not find a Shite government in the State of Arkansas to 
put him in charge of. The argument is not even ingenious, and 
however it may delude the ignorant, we have no fears that the 
congress of the United States could not find "a State of Arkan- 
sas'" if the necessity should arise. Tt is idle to say that the CO] - 
gress of the United States can or will sustain the revolution inaug- 
urated by Elisha Baxter, and prosecuted, as it has been, by men 
who have done nothing else for the past thirteen years but 
denounce and vilify it, because of its republican tendencies. It 
must he home in mind that our contest is before a republican 
tribunal — that on one side are arrayed the loyal and reconstructed 
men of the State, and that on the other side are arrayed the most 
vindictive, unforgiving rebels of the south, who but a Jew short 
years since wore the mask and gown of the Koklttx ; who are to- 
day more intense in their hatred of the north than they ever were. 
and who are to-day members of the White Leagues. Everytl 
else being equal, we certainly ought to start with the sympathies 
of e<ingress. But it is not on sympathy we rely, but the justice ol 
our cause. When congress shall be informed, as it will be, that 
the present revolution is not a movement of the people to rid 
themselves of an obnoxious or opressive government ; but, on the 
contrary, a movement of unrepentant and unsubdued rebels to 
overthrow and destroy a loyal government, and on its ruins erect 
a government like that of Georgia and Tennessee; thai ten mem- 
bers of the present constitutional convention were members of the 
convention of 1861, that passed the ordinance of session: thai 
another member was governor at the time the ordinance passed: 
thai another member was elected governor during the time the 
State only acknowledged allegiance to the confederacy; that 
the legislature that called the constitutional convention would 
only be entertained with a pass from a military commander; that 
two of the judges of the supreme court appointed by Elisha 
Baxter to act during the pretended suspension of the regular 
judges were confederate supreme judges : that the constitutional 
convention attempted the suspension by ordinance of the lieuten- 
ant-governor and superintendent of public instruction; that upon 
a direct proposition to recognizee the bonded debt of the State,and 
provide for the prompt payment of the interest and principl< 
thereof at maturity, the same was voted down and excludi d from 
the constitution, there only being jiim vote- in the amrmativ< 
that the free common school system of the State has b< en destroyed 
and the office of superintendent of public instruction abolished; 
that the >oli> tesl applied in selection of candidates for office by 
the late convention of the White-league democratic-conservative 
party, wa£ adhesion to the "lost cause," hatred of the north and 
th< negro, and a pledge to drive every prominent republican from 
3tat< and colored man from the polls; thai the candidate of 



11 

the White-league party for governor was a member pf the seces- 
sion convention and a member of the confederate senate ; that its 
candidate for treasurer of State is an ex-confederate major-gen- 
eral; that its candidate for auditor is an ex-confederate colonel; 
that its candidate for secretary of State is an ex-confederate 
colonel; that one of its candidates for supreme judge was the 
president of the secession convention ; that the candidate for 
chief-justice was a supreme-judge and chief-justice at the time the 
ordinance of secession passed, and at the earliest opportunity 
swore allegiance to the confederate government, and continued as 
such under the same; that the candidate for attorney -general is an 
ex-confederate colonel ; that the candidate for commissioner of 
State lands is an ex-confederate captain. Congress and the 
northern mind will find little or no difficulty in distinguishing 
this revolution, or the spirit that moves it, from a peaceful effort 
of the reconstructed masses to change their organic law in the 
mode therein pointed out : but that in point of fact it is an 
attempt to reorganize a government composed of the most virulent 
rebels in the south. 

WHAT ELISHA BAXTER HAS DONE TO AID IN THE OVERTHROW OF THE 
PRESENT STATE GOVERNMENT AND TO AID THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 

When we have shown to congress, as we will show, that 
Elisha Baxter was not elected governor; that he set the judgement 
of the courts of the country at defiance: that thirty-one members 
of the house of representatives w r ere by him appointed to high 
and lucrative offices within a few weeks after voting to prevent a 
contest for the office of governor: that he proclaimed martial law 
at the capital of the State, where it continues to-day, and under 
its auspices places thirty-three persons in the house of representa- 
tives and in the senate, without whose presence there never was a 
quorum in either body, and who had no right there : that he 
solemnly pledged himself before the pretended election of these 
so-called members of the legislature, he would not convene the 
general assembly were every man, woman and child in the State to 
petition him to do so, and that after lulling republicans into security. 
and electing democrats to fill vacancies of his own creation in the 
legislature, he violated that promise ; that after pledging himself in 
the canvass to reduce the appointing power of the governor and make 
the officers elective by the people, he induced the legislature to cre- 
ate nearly three hundred new offices, and retained to himself the 
power of appointment ; that there has been no law in the State 
since April last but his will ; that he, with the aid of an illegal 
legislature, suspended three of the supreme judges because they 
would not aid him in his usurpation of the office of governor, and 
appointed two of his attorneys, who had been confederate supreme 
judges, to fill the vacancies thus created : that he forced the treas- 
urer of State to resign to give the position to one of his major-gen- 
erals in the militia, who was a confederate colonel ; that he forced 
the attorney-general to resign and appointed another of his militia 
generals, an ex-confederate major, to fill the vacancy ; that he sus- 
pended the superintendent of tin- penitentiary, and appointed an- 



12 

other of hit? major-generals of militia, an ex-confederate major- 
general, to fill his place ; that he suspended the commissioner of 
state lands and immigration for the purpose of giving an agent of 
the associated press, an ex-confederate captain, whose only claims 
to recognition were the falsehoods he sent to the public by virtue of 
his position ; that he suspended the auditor of State for obeying a 
mandate of the supreme court ; that his administration has been 
more corrupt and extravagant than that of any preceding admin- 
istration ; that he has driven immigration from the State ; that he 
has used the executive contingent fund of the State to pay his pri- 
vate debts ; that life and property are wholhy without protection of 
law, and have been for months past; that he has appointed mur- 
derers, for whom rewards are offered, officers in the militia ; that 
he has paralyzed trade ; that under his administration the process 
of the law has been used for the purpose of disarming persons, to 
the end that assassination might be made less difficult ; that he 
disbanded the militia of loyal men, and in their stead organized a 
militia of personal and political adherents, composed of Kuklux 
and ex-confederates ; that for the purpose of violence and intimi- 
dation he has placed the arms of the State in the hands of his ex-con- 
federate militia ; that colored and white republicans are arrested 
on frivolous and trumped up charges and brutally murdered while in 
the hands of officers of the law ; that he has made the military inde- 
pendent of and superior to the civil power ; that he has despoiled 
citizens of the State of their goods and refused to pay for them be- 
cause the}^ were not personal adherents ; that he has pardoned out 
of the penitentiary, at the instance of political friends, persons con- 
victed of felony, upon the assurance that they would play the des- 
perado in his behalf in the different counties ; that he has kept a 
standing army at his private residence and at the capitol ; that he 
has doubled our taxes ; that he has appointed democratic and ex- 
confederate officers to office, after the adjournment of the legislature, 
whose nominations were rejected by the senate; that he has encour- 
aged the assassination of republican officials and invariably appoint- 
ing ex-confederate democrats to fill the vacancies occasioned by the 
murder of republicans. In short, to use the language of the declar- 
ation of independence, his daily administration has been marked 
by acts that define him as a tyrant, and unfit to govern a free or 
loyal people. Therefore, we repeat that when these things have 
been shown to congress, we need have little fear that any member 
of it will have either the temerity or effrontery to attempt the 
defense of a government brought into existence by the aid of the 
acts mentioned, and for the sole benefit of the class of men we 
have described, and who do not even make a profession of loyalty. 

REFUTATION OF THE CHARGE OF HICxII TAXES AND A LAVISH EXPENDI- 
TURE OF THE PUBLIC MONEY. 

Having briefly alluded to the reasons which have influenced 
us to not embarrass the cases now before congress, by 'participating 
in the election, and having described the class of men and the 
animus of those who occupy prominent places in the present 
rebellion, we are impelled, not only by a sense of duty, but in 
justice to the republican party, to refute some charges made against 



13 

it by our opponents. It is charged that the republican party is 
the author of high taxes in this State, and that its administration 
is marked with a more la visit and reckless expenditure of the public 
money than that of any which preceded or followed it. To the 
end that the people may see how little truth there is in this charge, 
we have taken the trouble to ascertain the amount of taxes levied 
during the two years preceding the advent of the republican party 
to power. The tax fo±' genera] revenue purposes, for the years L866 
and 1867, was as follows : 

1866 $500,79] 66 

1867 '. 278,089 so 

Total $778,881 16 

1868....! $341,979 37 

869 349,649 96 

Total • $691,829 33 

From the above statement, it will be seen that during the first 
two years the republican party were in charge of the State govern- 
ment it levied $87,252.13 less tax for general revenue purposes than 
the democratic administration did that preceded it. When it is 
taken into consideration that, under the two years of republican 
rule alluded to, a deaf-mute institution and a blind asylum were 
built, and the expense of supporting and maintaingthe same paid 
out of the general revenue fund,- and that $160,000 of the same 
fund was used to subdue a Kuklux rebellion, it may be doubted 
whether our opponents make anything by inviting comparison. 

During the administration of Gov. Clayton, State scrip never 
went below eighty cents, and at times was par. Under the admin- 
istration of Elisha Baxter, the man who has won the admiration 
of the "White League," for the efficient manner in which he has 
conducted the finances of the State and the State government, 
State scrip never rose higher than sixty cents, and has fallen as low 
as twenty-five cents, where it stands to-day. These facts are only 
mentioned in passing, that the public may judge for themselves 
which of the two administrations had the confidence of the people. 
Having compared two years of republican rule with two years of 
democratic rule, and finding the balance in our favor, let us make 
a comparison with that of Elisha Baxter. We have already 
seen that the general revenue tax for the years 1868-9 amounted 
in the aggregate to $691,629.33. Under the "economical adminis- 
tration" of Elisha Baxter, the general revenue tax for the years 
1873-4 is as follows: 

1873 si, 024,987 93 

1874 ". 717,491 55 

Total $1,742,479 4S 

By deducting $691,629.33, levied for general revenue purposes, 
under the first two years of Clayton's administration, from $1,742,- 
479.48, the amount levied for the same purpose under the adminis- 
tration of Elisha Baxter, we find that one million, fifty thousand, eight 
hundred and fifty dollars and fifteen cents more tax was levied for gen- 
eral revenue purposes on "an oppressed and carpet-bag-ridden 



14 

people," without a murmur, by Elisha Baxter, than was in the 
same length of time under republican rule. 

But our opponents may say this is not a fair test ; that the 
amount of taxes levied in any one year, or series of years, does not 
show the actual expense of the government. This is true. Elisha 
Baxter has been in office not quite twenty-one months, and during 
the first eighteen months of that time warrants have been drawn, 
payable from the general revenue fund, to the amount of $2,211,- 
400.21. During a period of twenty-seven months, under the 
administration of Gov. Clayton, which is characterized by our 
opponents as being "the sum of all corruption and villanies," war- 
rants were drawn on the general revenue fund for the sum of 
$1,422,360.71. This amount deducted from the amount expended 
under the administration of Elisha Baxter ($2,211,400.21), shows 
that Elisha Baxter expended seven hundredand eighty-nine thousand, 
thirty-nine doUars and fifty cents more in eighteen month* than Gov. 
( Jlayton did in twenty-seven months. 

REPUBLICANS PAY THE INTEREST ON THE PUBLIC DEBT. 

Under the republican administration of Govs. Clayton and 
Hadley the interest on the public debt was promptly paid. Under 
the administration of Elisha Baxter not one cent of interest has 
been paid. Yet Elisha Baxter, by the commission of acts that we 
cannot forbear characterizing as crimes, has so commended himself 
to the democratic party that it twice nominated him as its standard- 
bearer, in preference to a member of its own party. Whether he 
declined the nomination for governor for so many dollars and 
cents, as some allege, or under a promise that lie should be sent to 
the United States Senate two years hence, cannot change the 
indorsement given him by the White-League democratic-conservative 
party. That party lias indorsed his every crime, and it now pro- 
poses to reap the fruits of his iniquity. Whether it will be enabled 
to do so depends entirely on the fact whether or not the congress 
of the United States, in violation of all law and precedent, is really 
anxious to turn the State of Arkansas over to the very men it 
wrested it from in 1868. 

RECOKU OF THE REPUBLICAN \NI> DEMOCRATIC PARTIES OH Tin: Ql ES- 

TIOS OF FREE s.'l !' i. .]>. 

"Knowledg( and learning." so says the constitution of 1836, 
"general!) diffused through a community, being essential to the 
preservation of a fret governm nt, it shall be the duty of the general 

ably to provide by law i'ov the improvement of such lands as 
are or hen niter may be granted by the United States to this State 
for the use of schools, and to apply any funds which maybe 
raised from such lands, or from any other source, to the accomplish- 
m i;l of the object they are oi may be intended for." Now. let us 
see how faithfully the democratic party observed this provision of 
the constitution : In the year 1827 congress granted Arkansas 
seventy-two sections of land, for the purpose of establishing a 
"seminary of learning." From the sale of these lands $184,320 
was realized. The money has been squandered, and no "seminary 
of learning'" has been built. Having shown what become of a 
grant for educational purposes under democratic rule, let us s< e 



15 

what ;i republican administration did with a grant of a like char- 
acter. Under an act giving to the different states a grant of land 
for the purpose or' establishing: "agricultural colleges," the state of 
Arkansas was entitled to 150,000 acres of land, for which $135,000 
was realized. With this money and such donations as have been 
secured through the activity of the republican officials placed in 
charge thereof, a farm costing $11,000 lias been purchased, and a 
building costing $130,000 has been erected thereon, and an endow- 
ment fund of $130,000 secured. At the time Elisha Baxter came 
into possession of the executive chair this institution was in a 
highly prosperous condition, with two hundred and thirty-four 
pupil- in attendance. But we regret to say that under the admin- 
istration of Elisha Baxter a change was made in the board of 
trustees, and from present appearances it is soon likely to become 
an asylum where indigent survivors of the "lost cause" may be 
"pensioned off,'" and the youth of the country taught to hate the 
government that endowed the college. Having shown the differ- 
ence bet ween the two parties in relation to colleges, let us see the 
difference in relation to the "dissemmination of knowledge.'" a 
thing the trainers of the constitution of 1836 regarded as so "essen- 
tial to the preservation of a free government." In a period of 
nearly thirty years the democratic party erected, so Gov. Rector 
-ays in his message to the legislature of 1861, just twenty-six 
school-houses. In a period of four years, during all of which 
time we had to combat a prejudice against free schools, the repub- 
lican party erected eleven hundred and forty-six school-houses, at 
a cost of $276,378. In addition to this, during the year 1869, it 
furnished 68.802 children with the benefit of a free common school 
education. In 1870, 107,908. In 1871, 109,809. In 1872, 93,033. 
Comparisons like these are odious. 

HOW THE CISTERNAL [IMPROVEMENT FUND WAS SQUANDERED. 

For the purpose of showing the utter faithlessness of the demo- 
ratic party, we desire to call the attention of the public to the fact 
that in the year 1841 the congress of the United States granted to 
the State of Arkansas 500,000 acres of land, the proceeds of which 
were to be applied to building " roads, railroads, bridges, canals 
and the improvement of water courses." Instead of spending the 
money a rising from the sale of said lands, for the purpose indicated in 
the grant, a democratic legislature passed an act distributing the 
proceeds arising from the sale to the different counties. 
Having distributed the money equally between the different coun- 
ties, a democratic legislature passed another act requiring the 
custodian of the fund "to loan the same to any citizen of the 
county applying to borrow it;" at the same time inflicting a penalty 
on the officer of ten per centum per month' if he refused to loan 
hf money. History records the fact that the money was loaned, 
and we regret to state that the counties have never been able to get 
it back. Instead of appropriating the money to some great work 
of improvement, as the other States did, to which a similar 
-rant was made, it was first in violation of the grant distributed 
equally among the counties, and second, by subsequent legislation, 
loaned to favorites and irresponsible persons, from whom it cannot 



16 

now be collected. Seventy-two sections of saline lands and seven 
millions of acres of swamp land, granted the State by congress. 
under democratic rule, have all been frittered away, and no citizen 
can point to a work of a public nature where one-tenth of the 
money was expended that was derived from these grants. 

HOW CERTAIN DEMOCRATIC POLITICIANS ROBBED THE STATE OF FIVE 
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. 

Here we might stop the recital and comparison of the acts of 
the democratic and republican parties, and submit the case as made 
to an intelligent public for verdict and judgment; but a sense of 
duty impels us, nauseating and repulsive as the work is, to continue 
the recital of political corruption seldom seen and never equalled 
in a republican form of government. Nearly forty years ago our 
democratic friends were short of money " to buy more niggers to 
pick more cotton," and they conceived the brilliant idea, as they 
had no credit of their own, to mortgage their plantations to the 
State at fabulous prices, and get the State, as it then had no bonded 
indebtedness, to issue bonds, equal to the amount of the face of 
the mortgages. A democratic legislature was appealed to, and an 
act was passed authorizing the establishment of the Real Estate 
oank. The mortgages were executed, and the State turned her 
oonds over to the impecunious gentlemen, who had no credit of 
their own. The bonds were sold, and a bank organized for the 
benefit of the mortgagors, who were not slow to borrow its capital. 
Like the internal improvement fund, the capital thus borrowed is 
loaned yet. From the money derived from the sale of the bonds, 
the State was to receive no profit. The State, in point of fact, was 
a mere accommodation indorser, the mortgagors pledging them- 
selves to pay the interest and principal of the bonds as the same 
became due. Instead of complying with that agreement, or paying 
the interest as the same became due, no interest was paid thereon 
during a period of thirty years, the State contending that having 
received no consideration for the bonds, it did not feel like paying 
a debt that should be paid by the beneficiaries. Our impecunious 
friends having the money derived from the sale of the bonds in 
their pockets, not feeling disposed to pay it out in interest, let the 
bondholder and the State argue the legal and moral phase of the 
case for nearly forty years. The principal and interest on the debt 
thus created amounts to nearly five millions of dollars. In equity, 
the persons who borrowed the mone}^ and executed the mortgages 
■diould be compelled to pay it ; but in point of fact the tax-payer, 
if he has any respect for the credit of the State, will have to pay 
five millons of dollars of private debts that should be paid by 
individuals. The men who honestly owe this debt of five million 
dollars are all members of the democratic party, and they can be 
heard most any day railing of "radical corruption" and high 
taxes. Instead of instituting suits against the men who owe this 
debt, and prosecuting them to a speedy judgment, a democratic 
legislature, ;it the instance of these debtors, whose influence they 
fear, and whose property they desire to protect, has so framed the 
aw that it is doubtful if anything can ever be collected on the 
mortgages. If the pres llion i- successful, we now prophesy 



17 

that not one dollar will ever be collected, for the men who owe this 
debt owned the courts and the legislature before the war, and will 
own them. Whatever else may be said of the republican party, 
its worst enemy cannot charge it with a crime like this. 

REMOVAL OF POLITICAL DISABILITIES DID NOT BRING PKACE. 

Disfranchisement, for a long time, was the alleged cause of 
violence and disorder throughout the State. The republican party, 
ever ready and anxious to extend the olive branch, and inaugurate 
an era of good feeling, on its own motion, removed all political 
disabilities imposed for participation in the rebellion. Its magna- 
nimity in so doing has neither been acknowledged nor appreciated 
by the recipients nor by our opponents. Instead of decreasing 
violence and disorder — instead of restoring harmony, peace and 
quiet, it only served to open the long pent-up flood-gates of hate 
and animosity, and many republicans to-day are in doubt whether 
they are entitled to the plaudits or censure of mankind for their 
action in this respect. Our magnanimit}' in removing political 
disabilities, our every effort at reconciliation, and every overture in 
the interest of peace, has, by our opponents, been interpreted as an 
evidence of timidity and cowardice and a license to indulge in a 
relentless persecution of every man that adhered to, or sympathized 
with, the war for the preservation of the Union. 

WHAT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS TO BE PROUD OK. 

The republican party of Arkansas has much to be proud of. 
Organized, as it was, at the close of a wicked and uncalled-for 
rebellion — ostracised as its members were, hated, maligned and 
despised for its loyalty to the government and prompt recognition 
of the rights of the colored man — its magnanimity has known no 
bounds. Under its reign, over six hundred miles of railroad were 
constructed. Under its advent into power, eleven hundred and 
forty-six school-houses were built, and one hundred thousand 
children annually the recipients of a free-scool education, and life 
and property received a greater protection than during any period 
since the organization of the government. While it may not have 
been all that its friends could have desired, and while it may not 
have accomplished all that was expected, an era of prosperity, such 
as was never before known in the State, kept pace with its lease of 
power. Its deeds of usefulness, and acts of fidelity to the best 
interests of the people, are no more to be compared to those of the 
democratic party than light is to darkness, or loyalty to treason. 
It has committed no act to mantle the cheeks of its members with 
shame, and left a heritage to the people of Arkansas, which, if 
preserved, should embalm it in the memory of its loyal citizens. 
With this record, we confidently submit our cause to a loyal 
congress and the republicans of Arkansas. 

Resolved, That the address prepared by the committee, be adopted by this 
convention, and that the same be publiehed in the address of this convention. 

Adopted unanimously. 



18 



RESOLUTIONS 



Resolved, That we renew our pledges of fidelity to those grand 
and beneficent governmental principles in defense of which the 
republican party was organized, and under which it has conducted 
the affairs of the nation during the most important epoch in its 
history, in such manner as to challenge the admiration of a large 
majority of the intelligent and liberty-loving people of the world. 

2. That we denounce the usurpation of the chief executive 
office of the State by Elisha Baxter, in violation of a decree from 
a legally constituted court of competent and general jurisdiction 
in the State, recognizing and declaring Hon. Joseph Brooks to have 
been elected governor by a majority of the legal voters of the State, 
and we deny in toto the correctness of the opinion assumed by the 
attorney-general of the United States in the opinion addressed to 
the president, and upon which the latter recognized the usurping 
State government in Arkansas. 

3. That the circuit court, a court of general and compe- 
tent jurisdiction, having, on the 15th day of April last, declared 
upon evidence that Hon. Joseph Brooks was governor of the State, 
we hereby declare it to be our opinion that all acts had and done 
by Elisha Baxter since the date of that decree were and are revo- 
lutionary, null and void, and that the assembling of the legisla- 
ture in extraordinary session, by virtue of his proclamation, was a 
revolutionary proceeding, and cannot be recognized by the repub- 
licans of the State. 

4. That the late so-called constitutional convention recently 
assembled, having been called by a revolutionary legislature, with- 
out warrant or authority of law, and in violation of the existing 
constitution of the State, all acts had and done by that conven- 
tion, as well as those of the legislature which called it, are revolu- 
tionaiy, null and void, and it would be both improper and impol- 
itic for the republican party to place men in nomination as candi- 
dates for any of We offices provided for by said so-called conven- 
tion. 

5. That the provisions in the constitution submitted by the 
late so-called convention, requiring the numbering of ballots, de- 
stroys the secrecy thereof and the principle of free and fair elec- 
tions, and, we believe, is intended as an instrument to be used in 
the work of in tit nidation at elections. 

6. That in our deliberate judgment we believe that the manip- 
ulators of the proposed constitution, well knowing that they could 
not under a fair and free election get a majority of the voters of, 
this State to ratify a constitution that refuses to acknowledge para- 
mount allegiance to the United States, intend to carry the same by 
fraud, repeating and ballot-box stuffing, and in orderto be success- 
ful in their efforts, refused in their article submitting the same to 
place any but their own partisans as judges or managers of the 
election. 



7. That the open and declared purpose ot' the leaders of the 
'lost cause'' and the present "White League" is to seize all the State 

governments in the south, and drive out or assassinate men who 
will not obey their behests or subserve their interests/ and their 
claim that the United States will have no authority to interfere in 
any manner with their State governments unless called upon by 
them, is but a reassertion, in another form, of the doctrines of the 
"lost cause,'' and should be combatted and denounced by every 
man that acknowledges or owes his allegiance to the national gov- 
ernment. 

8. That the action of the late so-called constitutional conven- 
tion respecting the indebtedness of the State, is a shameless, but 
■characteristic democratic scheme to repudiate a public obligation 
legally incurred, and that we reiterate the principle that the 
prompt and honorable discharge of said obligation is a duty we 
owe ourselves, as well as our creditors. 

9. That the action of the late constitutional convention in 
refusing to provide unqualifiedly for an efficient system of free 
common schools, wherein the youth of the State could be thor- 
oughly educated, has displayed the usual characteristic democratic 
opposition to intelligence and intellectual advancement, and its 
utter failure, in this case alone, to meet the requirements of a people 
earnestly seeking after knowledge, should of itself be a sufficient 
cause for the overwhelming defeat of the so-called constitution. 

10. That we approve the timely movement calling a southern 
convention to be held at Chattanooga, on the 13th day of October 
next, and have the utmost confidence that its deliberations will 
result in great good to the whole country. 

11. That we return our sincere and heartfelt thanks to the 
senate of the United States for its zealous efforts in securing the 
passage of the civil-rights bill, and we request the house of repre- 
sentatives of the United States to pass the senate bill, and thus 
settle for all coming time a prejudice founded on hate and unworthy 
a people that profess to favor the political and civil equality of all 
men before the law. 

12. That in the colored race at the south we have, since recon- 
struction, ever found a naturally peaceful and industrious people, 
zealous and devoted lovers of the national government, and faithful 
allies of republicanism, and we demand, as a necessary condition 
of their security against prejudice and violence, that the national 
government enforce in their behalf the full and complete guaranties 
of the federal constitution. 

13. That we denounce the misrepresentations and mendacity 
of the agent of the associated press at Little Rock, whose partisan 
dispatches concerning the late troubles in Arkansas, resulting in the 
overthrow of our legal State government, have been, and are, a series 
of Bourbon-democratic slanders against the republicans of the 
State, and are unworthy of belief. 

14. That it is our deliberate judgment that the recent violent 
demonstrations in the south are the direct result of an organized 
effort to renew and revive, in everything but name, the lost cause of 
the late confederacy; that while the leaders of the late rebellion 




014 647 883 

outwardly profess a inendly regard tor the nauuuai guvemuiem 
and its supporters. tbey secretly hate and despise the same; that 
the cruel and cowardly assaults upon the colored race by the white 
Jeague conspirators, are countenanced or encouraged by the leaders 
of the democratic party of the south, and are but further manifes- 
tations of the spirit and purpose now prevalent, virtually to restore 
the "lost cause," to which the democratic party in the south is still 
ardently and devotedly attached. 

15. That the so-called "high-toned" Bourbon democrats or 
" conservatives," who openly denounce the acts of the " white 
league " ku-klux in their wholesale outrages and assassinations of 
both white and colored republicans of the south, for their adher- 
ence to the principles of the republican party, and their loyalty to 
the national government, while they are secretly the prime movers 
and instigators of all such outrages, are deserving of the severest 
condemnation from the friends of humanity of every nationality 
and political faith, and they are hereby denounced and branded as 
relics of the barbarous ages. 

16. That the thanks of the republican party of Arkansas are 
due, and are hereby tendered, to our senators and representatives 
in congress for their earnest and untiring efforts in behalf of the 
legal government of the State, displaying, as it did, a commendable 
devotion to the rights of the people and the principles of republi- 
can government, and that their action in voting for, and endeavor- 
ing to secure the passage of a civil-rights bill, meets with our 
hearty approval. 

17. That the action of a portion of the republican press of 
the north, in re-echoing the false and slanderous cry of " fraud, 
corruption and thievery " indiscriminately charged upon " carpet- 
baggers " by the Bourbon-democracy of the south, has invited the 
grossest acts of violence on the part of unscrupulous rebels, Ku- 
klux and White Leaguers ; has stimulated the hatred of those classes 
toward every northern man who settles in the south, regardless of 
his profession, occupation or station in life ; has caused the assassi- 
nation by secret organizations of rebellious democrats of many 
good and loyal men, both black and white, whose only crime was 
fidelity to republican principles and an unqualified refusal to vote 
the democratic White League ticket; and we do hereby denounce 
this action on the part of those who should sustain us in establish- 
ing loyal governments in the reconstructed States, as criminal in 
the extreme, and if continued in will soon "wipe out" every loyal 
white man at the south, return the reins of government to the 
bands of those who brought on the war, reduce the colored race to 
a worse condition of servitude than that from which they have just 
been liberated, and jeopardize the stability of our government 

Adopted unanimously. 

S. W. DORSEY, Pres. Convention. 
W. W. Orrick, Secretary. 



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014 647 883 9 



